Memory intensive programs cause lockups

[keithieopia]

-- Symptoms --
When using any memory intensive program, such as Firefox 3, VLC, gnash, transferring large files (100MB+) etc. the operating system complete freezes. It will not respond to keyboard, mouse, or SysRq commands; the screen just shows what was on it prior to the freeze. Waiting also is fruitless, the freeze was still present after 32 hours. The crash doesn't occur when the computer is completely idle with just Gnome or KDE running. The crashes seem to happen quicker when using Firefox 3, however the issue still happens with VLC and Firefox 2, so it's not related to these programs.

-- Affected Systems --
I've confirmed this error is present in up-to-date installations of Fedora 9, Ubuntu Hardy Heron, Arch Linux, and Debian Lenny. The bug affects both x86_64 and i686 flavors for all the distributions. Also, the same bug and behavior is present on the following computers (tested with all of the above distributions): Compaq Presario SR1303WM Desktop, Compaq 730us Laptop, and a Dell Dimension 2400.

-- Possible Resolutions Used --
On all these systems, the memory has been tested with Memtest86+ and has passed with no errors. Also the boot parameters nolapic, noapic, acpi=off, noapm do not help the issue, as all of them have been tried alone and together, in all possible combinations.

Furthermore, I've run a system monitor and there is not a process eating 100% of the memory, up until the freeze everything appears normal. Furthermore, disabling powernowd or completely uninstalling it does not help (suggested in other forums)

Using the radeon, nv, nvidia, or fglrx XOrg drivers with their respective cards does not fix the issue (3 different ATI and NVidia where tested, for a total of 6 different cards). When using the vesa driver, the lockup still occurred, but the system was willing to accept a ctrl-alt-backspace to restart the XOrg server, the same freezing occurred.

The error is present in the 2.6.24 kernels and up, however I don't think it's kernel related as there's nothing useful in the log. The problems started with updates to the distributions around June - July. Prior to those months, all systems where working fine including those with proprietary nvidia and ati drivers.

Lastly, there are no useful messages in the system log and attempting to SSH into the frozen computer is not possible (SSH was installed properly and running). KDE and Gnome also produce the same freezing.

-- Reproducing the Freeze --
For some reason certain webpages cause the freeze more often then others in Firefox 3. I've found this page: http://sites.target.com/site/en/corporate/page.jsp?contentId=PRD03-002477, to cause it almost always. As stated above, this is not the only webpage and Firefox 3 is not the only program that causes the error.

-- Possible Source --
I'm thinking it's some small package that nobody's thought to check, as there are no errors in the system log (Kernel, XOrg, etc) or anything. It's not related to a graphics card as many seem to conclude, due to all the drivers reproducing similar errors and the fact that the systems where working fine up until new updates where released.

[keithieopia (timothy-keithieopia)]

Not sure if I've fixed it, but at the very least slowed down the frequency of lockups. A combination of these options in xorg.conf when using the fglrx driver seem to help:

Option "VideoOverlay" "on"
Option "TexturedVideo" "on"
Option "AGPMode" "8"

[keithieopia (timothy-keithieopia)]

This might be a duplicate of #133192, but let me run my computer for another day to see if it still freezes up before marking it as a duplicate.

[Alan Pope 🍺🐧🐱 🦄 (popey)]

How long did you run memtest for? I would run it for at _least_ 24 hours before being somewhat confident that it was not a memory problem.

[keithieopia (timothy-keithieopia)]

Not a duplicate of #133192, freezing occurred last night.

I ran Memtest for 32 hours on each computer, then before submitting the bug, I ran it again for ~23. Since I ran it on all 3 computers and it passed (and three separate computers are having the problem), it's pretty much save to say it's not memory related.

[keithieopia (timothy-keithieopia)]

I've heard from other bugs that downgrading the kernel to 2.6.24-16 stops the freezing for most, so I'm going to try that and see. Also, I'm going to try the new Intrepid kernel to see if it stops the freezing also.

[Andres Mujica (andres.mujica)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This bug did not have a package associated with it, which is important for ensuring that it gets looked at by the proper developers. You can learn more about finding the right package at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage . I have classified this bug as a bug in LINUX.
For future reference you might be interested to know that a lot of applications have bug reporting functionality built in to them. This can be accessed via the Report a Problem option in the Help menu for the application with which you are having an issue. You can learn more about this feature at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

[keithieopia (timothy-keithieopia)]

Kernel 2.6.27-9 appears to fix this bug under Ubuntu Intrepid, and I can speculate that it's the same case for other Distros as well.

Downgrading to any of the 2.6.24 kernels brings this issue back, which leads me to believe it was a kernel or module related and not any specific package.

[Andres Mujica (andres.mujica)]

that's great to hear, thanks!!!

[Teodor Sobczak (teodor-sobczak)]

Sorry for that but the problem still exists. But luckily I think i know what causes this.

Running ubuntu 8.10 since yesterday. Kernel is 2.6.27-11.

Of course the lock-up was caused by Firefox3, when i tried to enter a certain site. I managed to break the lockup by some barbaric methods. I have a USB Wireless card. I simply unplugged it while computer was working, than I plugged it in. That stoped the lockup.

It occures that Firefox is causing some core gnome application to "invoke oom-killer"
I saw my Xorg and multiload-appel went mental. If some other applications are causing same thing than it looks like a quite an exploit.

Ask me for more infos if you would.

[keithieopia (timothy-keithieopia)]

While your issue sounds similar to my fixed issue, it's ultimately a different problem. Under my issue, the system completely locked up without warning or cause and could not be unfrozen... my problem was with 99% certainty something buggy in the kernel and not related specifically to ubuntu as it affected many other distros.

Omm-killer is not causing the problem or is anything to be concerned about, it simply frees up memory when system resources are low. From your description, it sounds like your problem is something USB (possibly ssb) or networking related (B43 or ndiswrapper) is causing a delayed freeze. I suggest you fill out a completely new bug report.

Here are some of the differences between your issue and mine:

Process monitors didn't show any abnormal memory spikes such as in your case with XOrg and your load applet. - "I've run a system monitor and there is not a process eating 100% of the memory"

Also, your issue still allows for things to be entered into logs, my issue completely froze the system. - "I don't think it's kernel related as there's nothing useful in the log... there are no useful messages in the system log"

It seems Firefox is exclusively causing your issue, whereas with mine it was anything that used a lot of resources - "When using any memory intensive program, such as Firefox 3, VLC, gnash, transferring large files (100MB+) etc."

[Teodor Sobczak (teodor-sobczak)]

True. Thanks mate.

[Teodor Sobczak (teodor-sobczak)]

keithieopia wrote "Kernel 2.6.27-9 appears to fix this bug under Ubuntu Intrepid"

Unfortunately it's not true.
Programs running: Open Office, vlc. Today no firefox.
Every symptom like in this case. I couldn't check system monitor because everything stoped. No entries in log.

My kernel is 2.6.27-11 - generic.

[keithieopia (timothy-keithieopia)]

In general the biggest causes of lockups are bad RAM, usb related issues (ssb, ndiswrapper), or video drivers. Make sure you test each one of these rigorously and include how you did so and the results of the test.

Rather then having several people continue to post that this issue still isn't fixed, please open new bug requests and follow the same troubleshooting steps I took. My issue was related to the linux kernel, not just Ubuntu. Please do not post that you're having the same issue without first testing Fedora or another distro other then Ubuntu/Debian.